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Greenwood Mayor Says City Needs Shadow Lake

In a move the mayor says is key to Greenwood’s future, an annexation committee is eyeing property northwest of the city that includes the Shadow Lake community.

“The city needs that area right there,” Mayor Del Gabbard said Wednesday. “If we’re going to go toward (Interstate) 49, that’s going to have to be the first area we take over. If we don’t go toward 49, Greenwood’s going to dry up and blow away.”

At a meeting tonight, the Greenwood Annexation Committee will consider the pros and cons of taking in the estimated 130-home community and other nearby areas.

“Years ago, they had agreed that they wanted to come in,” Gabbard said. “The city had worked on bringing them in. I don’t know what happened, but I do know that suddenly the people turned against it and nothing was ever done about it.”

The Shadow Lake community gets its water from the city, but pays 25 percent more than Greenwood residents. A water-line upgrade at Shadow Lake eventually will be needed, Gabbard said.

“They know they’re going to have to replace this very shortly,” he said. “It’s going to cost them as a group a tremendous amount per home to do it themselves.”

Tonight’s meeting includes a public comments forum, limited to two minutes per person. It begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

The annexation committee was created this spring. The committee’s objective is to pursue future expansion of the city, which is 9.82 square miles according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“The city would be responsible for a number of miles of county roads,” committee chairman Robert McKinney said. “The first figure we had was that over a 10-year period, we’d have to spend about $600,000 to repave those roads.”

Other deciding factors included the need for police coverage, little potential for commercial growth and resistance from residents.

“I was against that Been Ridge area because I thought that was a waste of our time,” Gabbard said. “But I am 100 percent in favor of (Shadow Lake).”